-- Liberty Hyde Bailey, Manual of Gardening, 1910

Back on Sale Today: 48 of Our Rarest Bulbs for Fall Planting

        Although our complete new catalog won't be ready for another month or so, we just put 48 of our rarest daffodils and tulips back on sale at our website. Among them are some we haven't been able to offer in years, including 'Adonis' and 'Royal Sovereign', some that sold out within a few weeks last year, including 'Beauty of Bath' and 'Paeony Gold', and all four of our 17th- and 18th-century parrot tulips, including the legendary 'Amiral de Constantinople'. Needless to say, quantities are very limited -- as few as 25 bulbs for some varieties -- so don't delay! See all 48 here.
        We're also honoring LAST fall's prices for our other fall-planted bulbs, but only until we finish our new catalog. And although we hate to raise prices, with the euro running as much as 20% higher than it was last year, we may have to do that -- another good reason to order now.

Heirloom Bulbs for the White House Garden

        Gardeners of all political stripes can agree on at least one important issue: the White House vegetable garden is a good thing. This spring, to thank First Lady Obama for inspiring so many gardeners and would-be gardeners, we sent her three of our favorite heirlooms to plant in her garden. "Although they're not vegetables," we wrote, "all three have traditionally been grown in vegetable gardens across America. They attract pollinators, they make great cut-flowers, and, as [Scott's] grandmother used to say, they just look pretty out there."
        All three heirlooms have strong Midwestern roots, too. "The fragrant 'Mexican Single' tuberoses," we continued, "come from a small family farm in Illinois where they've been grown since the 1920s. (You may have seen them for sale at farmers markets in Chicago.) The bright red, small-flowered 'Atom' gladiolus is grown for us on a family farm in Michigan. And the 'Wisconsin Red' dahlia is a family heirloom that's been handed down from generation to generation since the early 1900s."
        We'll probably never know whether our bulbs make it into the First Garden, but that's okay. As with any gift, it's the thought that counts, and one of gardening's greatest pleasures is imagining what could be.

Are Your Iris Thriving? Blooming?

        This spring, to help our freshly-dug iris reach you in the best possible condition, we dipped their roots in a slurry of moisture-retentive hydrogel. Unfortunately, the hydrogel sometimes kept the rhizomes and leaves so wet they ended up rotting. Doh! If any of your iris failed to thrive, please accept our apologies and let us know so we can send you replacements next year.
        If, on the other hand, your iris have settled in so happily that they bloom for you this first summer, we'd love to know that, too. Although we don't guarantee first-year bloom, that's one reason we ship our iris in the spring -- instead of after they bloom in summer, which is the standard practice -- and your feedback will help us gauge how well we're doing. Thanks!

Try This at Home: Fresh Peonies Months from Now

        In the early 1900s, peonies reigned as one of the country's leading cut-flowers, in part because they can be stored in bud for months. Yes, months! And it's easy. Here's how you can do it yourself, in an article adapted from The American Cottage Gardener magazine by our good friend Nancy McDonald.
        "Choose perfect buds of semi-double to double varieties (the heaviest 'bomb' types and singles don't work as well). In the cool of early morning or late evening, cut buds on six-inch stems, just as the petals begin to loosen but are not yet open. Place in gallon-size, zip-lock freezer bags. I put ten to twelve buds per bag, with half the heads facing one way and half the other. Wet a small, new, cellulose sponge or clean dishcloth, wring it out so it's just barely damp, and put it in the bag. Gently work as much air as possible out of the bag and seal it. Store flat in your refrigerator. You may wish to put the bag in a plastic storage box, so the buds don't get bruised by people rummaging for that last chicken leg. Make sure everyone in the house knows that they are not to be eaten.
        "After the peonies outdoors are just a fragrant memory, start enjoying your stored ones. Cut an inch of stem (underwater is best) and put the peony in water all the way up to the bud. Within half an hour it will begin to open. Arrange in a vase or float in a bowl of water (a charming way to display peonies anytime). Floating ones seem to last longest. Trim stems an inch shorter each day, if needed. Using this simple technique, I have stored buds for as long as three months, and dazzled everyone with bouquets in early September."

Sorry! 'Greuze' and Spider Lily Mix Ups

        Although we try hard to serve you perfectly, sometimes we don't. Last fall, thanks to our friends at Southern Living, we sold more red spider lilies than ever before. Unfortunately, this spring we discovered that one crate of them was actually white snowflakes instead. (The bulbs look remarkably similar.) Even worse, our entire stock of deep purple 'Greuze' was infiltrated by a glaring red-and-yellow tulip in a combination that couldn't be uglier. (They even showed up in our supplier's planting at the world famous Keukenhof Gardens, to his mortification.)
        If you got any of these mixed-up bulbs, simply let us know whether you'd like replacements, an OHG credit-plus-10%, or a refund. And please accept our apologies!

Book of the Month: Bill and Greg's New Heirloom Gardening in the South

        North, south, east, west -- no matter where you garden, if you like heirloom flowers, you'll want this book. Our friends Bill Welch and Greg Grant have been growing and championing heirloom plants for decades. Their 1995 The Southern Heirloom Garden became an instant classic, and although this new book is based on that landmark publication, it's different enough to warrant the new title. Chapters on the garden influences of various ethnic groups -- Native Americans, Africans, Germans, etc. -- have been completely rewritten, and many new chapters have been added, including ones on naturalizing bulbs, traditional ways to multiply plants, heirloom fruits, and "Natives, Invasives, Cemeteries, and Rustling."
        It's a hefty book at 537 pages, and nearly 350 of those are devoted to an encyclopedia of heirloom plants for the South. Some entries -- such as the one for snowflakes -- are pretty much identical to what originally appeared in The Southern Heirloom Garden, but others -- such as the five pages on lilies -- are completely new. Following the final entry (Zizyphus jujuba, with a recipe for jujube butter) comes one of the book's best parts, "How Our Gardens Grew," in which Bill and Greg tell the very personal stories of their own gardens. Don't miss it.
        The book is list-priced at $29.95, but Amazon is offering it for just $19.77 – less than I paid last weekend for two flats of annuals that will be dead by Thanksgiving. No matter how you do the math, this extraordinary book belongs on your bookshelf.

Made in Michigan: Hospital Grows Its Own Vegetables (and Dahlias)

        We've introduced you to some of our favorite Michigan-made products here, in an attempt to boost our home state's hard-hit economy. But this month we're spotlighting an innovative Michigan-made idea instead.
        Not long ago the staff at our local St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital decided it wasn't enough to just talk to their patients about the importance of healthy food -- they should serve them healthy food, too. So last year, in a ground-breaking effort to help make that a reality, they hired a young farmer and turned 15 acres of their sprawling medical campus into The Farm at St. Joe's. Today patients are served vegetables grown in fields and hoop houses they can see from their rooms, and once a week there's a small but lively farmers market in the hospital lobby. Learn more here.
        When we heard the Farm was also growing a few cut-flowers, we offered to donate some of our bulbs. Farmer Dan Bair responded enthusiastically, and next week he'll be planting two 100-foot rows of our heirloom dahlias -- healthy food for the soul.

Link of the Month: Studying Dahlias at Stanford

        We recently stumbled upon the website of the Stanford Dahlia Project. This fascinating site supports "Biology 137: Dahlias in Plant Genetics" taught by Stanford University professor Virginia Walbot. As you may have guessed from their amazing diversity, dahlias have a rich genetic inheritance. Even Darwin himself was impressed, citing both dahlias and hyacinths in The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (1868) as examples of plants that had been diversified from a single wild species (or so he thought) into thousands of different varieties.
        Noticing a photo of 'Union Jack' at her website, we asked Dr. Walbot if she'd like any of our dahlias to use in her research, and this spring D. atropurpurea, 'Nellie Broomhead', 'Tommy Keith', and 'York and Lancaster' joined 'Union Jack' at the Stanford Stock Farm. We were flattered when she asked us, "What are your thoughts on the color diversity in 'York and Lancaster'?" But we soon realized that "it's awesome" wasn't the kind of answer she was looking for, and we had a LOT to learn about dahlias. "It looks like a very early acting transposable element," she continued, "or it could be somatic recombination in a heterozygote (red//white after recombination some red//red and white//white zones are generated). . . ."
        But don't let that scare you! Dr. Walbot's site is fun to explore. There's a great page on dahlia history with a link to a timeline of dahlias in cultivation since 1300, an excellent section on dahlia terminology, and even a couple of videos. Before you know it you'll be bragging, "I studied dahlias at Stanford!"

Did You Miss Our Last Newsletter? Read It Online

        April's articles included our top 10 reasons why bulbs don't bloom, identifying "legacy" bulbs in the wild, tuberoses in Williamsburg, dahlia love from a best-selling author, and more. You can read all of our back-issues -- by date or by topic -- at oldhousegardens.com/NewsletterArchives.asp .

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